Here come the barbells... Workouts for week of 8/3!

Hey all! Many of you don’t know, but our programming works through various cycles of concentration based on proficiency of our Standard community and the need for improvement. For example, when we came back from COVID lockdown, do you remember how we were doing cleans virtually every stinking day? That’s because we knew we weren’t going to be able to do things from our rig, so we had to make sure everyone was up to snuff with their clean. Recently, we’ve done a lot of piked HSPU, pull-ups, and inversion practice… because we need better familiarity with them. …and we got it! People got their first pull-ups, learned to use a kip effectively, got upside-down for the first time, etc. This is the best way to get better.

So last month we were focused on gymnastics and benchmark workouts (barbara, Grace…) and for the next few weeks leading into our LM Testing cycle, we’re going to be more focused on barbell movements and re-visiting some Open Workouts. If you don’t know what an Open workout is, you’re going to love it. Typically we encourage all of you to train at an intensity that allows for you to get better; zero sloppy reps, good intensity without complete failure, high emphasis on safety. An Open workout is more like… get the work done, compete, allow mistakes when they happen. All that translated means: they hurt. The sense of accomplishment that follows enduring such a workout makes it worth it. I’m personally excited to take some on this month. So: Barbells and open workouts, along with ventilation-oriented (heavy breathing) biases… this is going to be fun!

That said, here are the workouts coming up!

TESTING update & workouts for 7/27

Good Lord. It’s almost August. Time flies when you’re avoiding COVID. :)

Typically Level Method, who does the bulk of our programming, will schedule three times a year to run a global testing cycle and all LM gyms work through that to see where their members are at. With COVID doing it’s thing to everything, they are not doing that, so instead, we are on our own to make our own schedule. This is great!

I have a plan for how I’d like to see the rest of the year play out, so this will work perfectly!

In August we will run a testing cycle and since The Open is almost certainly moving from October back to February, we’ll take a couple weeks to relax from that and then run our “March Madness,” in-house competition we intended to run… ahem… in March. :) This way, we’ll all have fresh (read: accurate) levels for when we compete. We’ll have winners and prizes in all categories, an environment we don’t typically get to have, and it’ll be a ton of fun! Dates have yet to be completely decided on, but we’ll announce them in the very near future.

If you have people who are on the fence about starting CrossFit or just want to work through the assessment process during the testing cycle, they definitely can.

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Here’s an increasingly more relevant excerpt from the forthcoming field manual… about hand care. Avoid rips, avoid chalk, use grips sometimes… read when…

Glassman's Fitness in 100 words - and... workouts...

Here are a couple of pages from the Field Manual we’re building for Standard athletes… Glassman has always said and done some stupid stuff, but as a coach and a fitness pioneer, no one has changed the world the way he has. Let’s take a look at “Fitness in 100 words.”

COVID/mask update and some KILLER workouts this week.

Hey everyone! I hope you’re staying cool, managing to find some water to relax in. This week is going to be crazy hot, so we have zero running outside (unless you WANT to on Wednesday).

Let’s talk COVID quickly. We got rid of the temperature checks because there’s increasingly more evidence that it doesn’t prove infection and could simply prove it’s hot outside. We changed boxes to lanes to accommodate for more people to fit in the same space and simplify rig designations. We also had Coach Sam avoid the gym for until he got a negative result back after his co-worker tested positive. This week, the mayor is expected to mandate a mask requirement in social settings on Tuesday. We will not be working out with masks on. The science and airflow demos I’ve watched put us at super low risk with proper distancing measures (we have those) and proper airflow (have you noticed the giant fan blowing harder than normal?). Our likelihood of transference is ridiculously low, then along with being healthy individuals as a whole, I feel like the risks are pretty low; so low that I’m not going to ask anyone to wear a mask during workouts.

Let’s just stay away from each other, wash our hands before and after class, and wipe down your stuff. Everyone cool with that? If not, please let me know and I’ll make reasonable accommodations!

Let’s talk workouts. This week is a beautifully constructed balance of workouts. We’re going to get better, get one step closer to our goals, and have fun all at the same time. If you know of anyone that might want to join this fun, I don’t currently have anyone in basics, so invite them over! :)

Operation MURPH - Complete. Workouts for 7/6!

Happy 4th, everyone! In a moment in time when people have sort-of lost track of appreciation for the nation we live in, it was especially powerful to do Murph with friends that I’m blessed to get to train every day. I say this regularly, but probably not enough — It’s a gift that you trust us with your fitness and we do not take that responsibility lightly. Thanks for that honor. Yesterday we saw so many people do things they’ve never done before and that’s inspiring to me and the entire training staff, but hopefully inspiring to your friends at The Standard. I’m pumped to keep the momentum going!

We have a big week this week! Check it out!

WORKOUTS for 6/29 - Murph.

Full steam ahead!!

This is a big week of training! We’re going to become better every day we step inside the gym this week and I’m excited to see you guys smash these workouts.

Let’s get after it!

Workouts for 6/22 - COVID Adjustments to class...

Hello all! We’re crossing the one-month anniversary post-COVID, so rejoice! No fines, no confirmed cases, just fun and fitness and friends. The way it should be.

We’ve been getting more creative with space and opening up class attendance capacity, but some people are still not getting to attend as often as they’d like. We’re working on a couple longterm solutions to this, but here are a few things we’re going to change, based on the above facts:

1) Chalk is back. We’ll put buckets back on the floor, but please be aware of others in the area and maintain proper distancing. Just FYI… The virus doesn’t seem to be transferrable from surfaces (CDC), so the buckets themselves aren’t a problem, but two people leaning over and breathing in each other’s faces… is. Let’s avoid that. Oh, and please don’t scoop the chalk into your hand and then clap your hands together leaving a trail of fairy dust behind you. =)

2) Secondly, we are using just cleansing wipes at this point for a variety of boring-to-type-out reasons. We’re also going to have a mop bucket made fresh each morning for those beautiful sweat angels that have been showing up alongside the increased heat. If you make one, or spit, or bleed, or leave a chalky mess on the floor, just wheel that guy over and do your best janitor impression.

3) Please make sure you cancel your registration if you’re not going to make it. Most of you do this really really well and sometimes we forget; I would love to get that forget number down to zero. Don’t make me send you a message for no-showing and give you an idle threat about charging you for no-shows or something really intimidating.

4) The AC is on. Believe it or not. Enjoy! (I think we’re the only CF gym that has it?!?)

We are back to Level Method programming completely and they’re challenged to create workouts for people confined in 10x10 squares. Some of these get repetitive or lame, but they are nonetheless EFFECTIVE. That’s all I care about… making sure you all get the progress you deserve from the effort you’re putting out. Let’s get after it this week. Tomorrow will be a great start back!

Workouts for 6/15 - $100 gift cards for everyone now (!!) & much more.

Hey all!! WOO, this week of training has variety, difficulty, technicality, and is going to be fun and suck all at the same time. That’s good news and bad news for everyone.

We did get some BAD news this week when we learned that a friend of ours, Matt Williams, owner of CrossFit Crowned, was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. He’s just 42 years old and has a family that’s rocked by this news. Matt is a true good guy. We remain optimistic, but obviously the prospects forward are dim. =/ Crowned’s head coach put together a tribute workout for Matt and we programmed it for THIS SATURDAY. We’ll be taking donations (suggested $20) to help support Matt and his family in this. Please don’t feel obligated, but one of the best things we do is support our community, so we wanted to give you opportunity to help if you want to.

Speaking of support, we can’t overstate how pivotal you all were in getting us through the COVID shutdown. Not just financially, but also emotionally and spiritually. I feel like this was under-appreciated by our #stayformay promo/give-back, so we want to open that up to anyone who has been a member or generally supportive of The Standard. Please encourage them to signup for the $100s in gift cards at: communitycoalition.fitness/loyalty

MORE TO SAY….

CrossFit HQ is enduring some turmoil because of a variety of different things the CEO has done, who he’s been, and things he’s said. Our short response is above. The Standard is not CrossFit, we don’t represent CrossFit, and their CEO certainly doesn’t represent us or our beliefs. WE define who we are. No one else. CrossFit is a methodology; it’s a tool. We use that tool because it’s effective toward reaching our goals and helping others do the same. The parallel is: Steve Jobs was a known jerk. …should we not use his iPhone? Nah. It’s a great product despite his being a jerk. That’s all I really have to say about that, but if you want to talk about it more, come find me. :)

Workouts for 6/7 - CrossFit HQ commentary...

Hello friends! Welp… this is a pretty crazy year we’re having, right? One of my favorite things in life is conflict because I believe it forces adaptation and growth. In the gym, conflict is mental and physical— you overcome those and enjoy a benefit. Heck, we provide a safe conflictual situation everyday in which you can emerge victorious, so in many respects, we thrive on conflict. We thrive on doing the hard things. Overcoming those hard things is a process, though. It’s not always over 15 minutes after 3-2-1-Go is called. COVID has lasted months, George Floyd spurred conversation and action that will last even longer. That process will bring out great ideas and on the other side, the worst of people. Being the optimist I am, I can see many ways where good is going to emerge from all of these challenges.

I’ll hold off on more political opinions and analysis and touch briefly on CrossFit HQ, which is embroiled in controversy currently. If you don’t know, that’s great. Your life is likely not going to be enriched by knowing what I’m talking about. :) It’ll be a time suck with no firm solutions.

So, I’ll say this: CrossFit as a company has been laser focused on creating a methodology that is efficacious to all people. It works for the young, old, tall, short, black, white, gay, straight, all genders, heck even if you’re missing limbs or blind or disabled. If you have a heartbeat, CrossFit will help you fight back chronic disease and become a harder to kill person. That’s a beautiful thing and noble in it’s pursuit! HQ is run by people who cannot help but love other humans and want to see all of humanity enjoy a body that functions optimally and lives as long as possible. That longing is why The Standard exists as well. We started this gym to help people realize their best selves physically and mentally, using the tool of CrossFit.

So, as Greg Glassman, the creator, is out making brash statements like he always has, we will not be deterred from our responsibilities: to bring a world-class fitness experience to you so you can enjoy a life filled with health, happiness, confidence, and self-worth. This is a conversation that requires a lot of nuance and that’s impossible to type in a blog, so if you want to chat about it, please get with me (Ben) anytime. If you have any concerns at all or feedback generally, I always want it. Together we will make The Standard the most inclusive, professional, and effective gym around!

Which brings me to my next point: THANK YOU. Because many of you did #stayformay we were able to endure the forced COVID closures financially and as we said, you’ve earned $100 in gift cards!

If you had an active recurring membership during May, CLICK HERE to claim yours! You have to redeem them by 6/25, so get to pickin’ out your goodies!! Again, thank you for standing by us and believing in us; we literally couldn’t have survived with you.

With all of that said, here’s what we have planned for the week! This week, we’re back prettttty much full force. It’s going to be great! I’m genuinely excited to do some of these and even more excited to help you guys get through them. Let’s get after it!

Back to our regularly schedule program(ming).

We made it.

First week back!

We also made room for a 9th box in the gym to hopefully get more of you into the classes most convenient for you. Bear with us as we’re at the mercy of Ohio’s guidance here. I’m convince it will be short-lived.

Muscles are sore, reminding us we are doing something that breeds change and adaptation and ultimately more capable human beings. We saw friends we haven’t seen for a while, who have been enduring a lockdown alongside us, and smiled, laughed, and enjoyed every moment of it.

We took on a few workouts designed to remind us what training is like and to not crush us, rip our hands, or leave us unable to come back the next day.

This week, we’re going to raise the intensity and the volume. Let’s take on some really tough workouts, at levels we can all handle, and come out better on the other side. This week will be fun and tough and humbling.

Let’s take a look!

WE... ARRREEE... LIIIIIIVE....

WELCOME BACK!

We’re kicking off this week with some classic CrossFit workouts. Triplets, barbells, AMRAPs, and burpees. :) Yes. Those still exist. Sadly, they go with you anywhere. They’re inescapable.

REMEMBER - You MUST be registered for class before you show up. We’ve said this so many times, so please please don’t be the one I have to turn away because we don’t have space. Please.

ALSO - NO BAGS - So check these workouts and bring with you whatever you’re going to need. Jump ropes, knee sleeves, chalk baggie, grips, etc. Keep them with you in your box. Do not bring a bag. There is no room in the inn for a bag. There is not flat area inside the gym in which a bag can be placed. You may leave it outside if you have separation anxiety. :)

WORKOUTS!!!

** BRING YOUR OWN JUMP ROPE ** - TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY If you did the At Home with The Standard workouts, you know what plat step-ups are. If you didn’t, oh boy. You’ll love them!

FRIDAY

SATURDAY - yum.

At home workouts for the garage gym folks!

Enjoy, guys! If you need anything please text or call me! I’ll help however I can!

Phase 2: Coronavirus

Good evening everyone! How’s your 2020 apocalypse going? I hope you got a lifetime supply of disinfectant, toilet paper, and bread; because hey, friends share, right? Ok, seriously, there’s a LOT of craziness going on right now, so allow me to address some of it. It’s an extremely fluid situation, so we are staying on top of it and making the best adjustments possible to ensure that we can keep our commitments to YOU. Your health and safety, and safety to the community as a whole have always been of paramount importance to us; and we remain even more committed to that today than we have been over the last year. We have your back and we have you covered, no matter what happens!

On an individual basis…

1) It’s important for each of us to focus on what we can control. This might seem obvious, but with a world that seems to be filled with fear and panic, it’s likely the healthiest way to approach the uncertainty. Adding undue worrying to an already stressful situation can compromise an immune system and have effects mentally, so if we focus intently on making the best decisions based on the best information we can find, we will see the best outcomes possible.

2) Please self-quarantine if you’re feeling unwell in any way, are the type to get sick easily, or have been traveling. If you’re well enough to exercise, we’ll be providing you with in-home workouts along with video demonstrations via our YouTube page each day for the foreseeable future, so please… stay home, get fit, keep those little germs to yourself.

3) If you’re at the gym, you MUST wash your hands upon arrival after you’ve changed your shoes (obviously those aren’t clean). When the workout is over, opt for a good ole’ fashioned thumbs up or A-OK instead of hugs, high fives, and fist bumps. Then snag a cleansing wipe and use it to wipe down anything you touched equipment-wise. Once you’re done, use that same wipe to cleanse your phone and case! Please limit wipe usage to 1 person; shopping today, we couldn’t find any more, soooo let’s conserve them for the immediate time being. Once you’ve thrown your wipe away, wash your hands thoroughly (between fingers, under nails, under cuticles) before you head home. No viruses are to survive! :)

From your coaching staff at The Standard

1) We currently have no plans to close. We are open! Looking at the experts, the CDC information, and Ohio governmental recommendations and guidelines, it seems it’s safe to continue to run classes. If that changes, as mentioned above, we are prepared! (…if you want to discuss this decision, pleaseeee let me know; I’m always open to new information and ways of doing things better!)

2) We will be producing an at-home option for every day this week and for the foreseeable future. You can find these videos at our YouTube page! Subscribe and you’ll be notified when the next one is posted!

3) Effective immediately, The Standard is not accepting drop-ins. We trust all of you to treat our space the way you’d treat your own home, but we cannot be sure that “outsiders,” would do the same, so new members and drop in requests are suspended. This means we’re relying on you guys more than we already do, so thanks for the mind-bogglingly consistent support!

3) Sanitation talk… We have been diligently disinfecting after every class to ensure cleanliness is at the highest level. If we miss something please let us know or chip in yourself (…as if you don’t already.)

4) We’re exploring an equipment borrowing option (think: Library) with our insurance company which would help make those workouts more interesting/miserable. We’ll keep you posted as that conversation develops.

5) T-Shirt orders are in progress, but the supplier is delayed for a myriad of reasons, soooo we’re delivering later than we’d expected.

In fun, fitness-related news…

March Madness kicked off with a BANG!! A Fran-cough-inducing BANG. Thanks Coach Sam. Thanks.

!!RULE CHANGE!!

Some of you are self-quarantined or perhaps sick already and cannot participate each week. While it’d be a lot of fun to see leaderboards and results, it seems unfair to encourage people to stay home but then be excluded from competing, so… We will announce each workout and program it every Friday like we planned, but everyone will have the entire length of the competition to submit performance scores. Obviously, you should complete them on schedule as much as you’re able, but if it’s a choice between staying home to protect others and getting a workout score in before an arbitrary deadline…. STAY HOME!!

Remember, no redo’s. You can’t redo Death Race three weeks from now and re-submit it. Just do your best on your one shot and it’ll be fine. :)

We can get through this. We WILL get through this. We will thrive in the end!

Ben.

Check out Sean's Story!

Hey guys! Rob Wagner of our 6AM class often shoots photos for us, but he also produced this video about Sean and his journey. We think it turned out great! Check it out!

This week, we’re going to have a number of people dropping in at the 6AM and evening classes, so if someone seems lost, please help them. :) You all are already really great about this and making people feel welcome; thanks for that!

OK! March Madness! The most fun competition imaginable. It really should be fun. Have a good time with it; try your hardest, cheer on your friends, do things you’ve maybe never done before, and smile a lot. :)

Here are the workouts for the week! (Obviously Friday is missing…)

Double check your overall level! #Marchmadness

Hey guys! Zak Hermiller and his company The Media Menu created a series of incredible videos to help us promote what we do at The Standard. Check out the first one above!

March has arrived! …and MERCH is coming as well! Monday is the LAST DAY if you want to order a t-shirt or sweatshirt! CLICK HERE AND DO IT WHILE YOU’RE THINKING ABOUT IT

This week is awesome! So many challenging workouts with a WIDE variety of movement and strength development.

Here we go!

Lots of announcements... and Workouts!

Hey guys! There’s a bunch of info that went out in an email today, if you didn’t get it, please let us know!!

Here are the workouts for the week!

New t-shirts & sweatshirts, a huge equipment addition, and MARCH MADNESS announced!

^^Click above to scroll through designs^^

Happy Sunday everyone!

A couple of fun announcements today!

1) People have been requesting new t-shirts and to roll out a sweatshirt and it took a while to get there, but… here it is! Two designs, two different colors, three shirt styles— your choice. Like the skyline design, on black, in a hoodie? Got it. Harder To Kill in red, on a t-shirt? Got it.

We’re going to run a pre-order for just 10 days, so don’t miss out! If you know you’re going to want some, just do it now while you’re thinking about it. :)

ORDER HERE

2) We came across a really good opportunity to get a Trueform Runner last week and jumped on it. It’s a big addition to our gym especially in the frigid months. If you haven’t had a chance to run on it yet, try it next time you’re in. It’ll take you 30 seconds to sorta get your bearings, but once you do, you’ll see how beneficial this training tool can be.

3) March Madness!! March 13th will kick off our in-house, level-based competition! Yellows will put up their scores against other yellows, oranges & oranges, etc. Each workout will be scaled to your level like it always is. We’ll announce the workout on Thursday, then Friday class will be that workout. Sound familiar? Just like The Open. At the end of the 5 weeks (April 10th), we’ll have a Friday Night Finale when we’ll crown our champions for each level and then have them square off against each other to see who will emerge Standard Champ! It’s going to be a lot of fun, so save that date, make plans to be there!

*The 5th week workout will only be available to perform at the Friday Night Finale event, so classes will still happen on April 10th, but will NOT be the 5th week workout. No exceptions (seriously). We want you to come to the event that night! :)

YOU WILL NEED TO HAVE AN ESTABLISHED OVERALL LEVEL! …so, if you’re missing a test, let’s make a plan to get it done

THIS WEEK

We have some REALLY FUN training in store for the week. LOTS of strength stuff this week (M,W,F), a super long chipper, and a penalty-based metcon (which you likely know are my favorite). I’m excited to get to see all of you this week!

Back to our regularly scheduled programming...

We can now breath a communal sigh of relief as our first global level method assessment cycle is finished up.

WE HAD 495 LEVEL UPS and 54 OVERALL LEVEL UPS… That’s absolutely insane. That’s nearly more overall level ups than we have members lol

I’m inspired by all of your effort and striving to get better and improve and I want to bring every single thing I can to you to help you get to the next level. If you’re held back by something, let’s talk and put together a plan of attack! You can schedule some time with me or any of the other trainers; just come ask.

We’ve been saving money each month for equipment additions, repairs, and upgrades… they’re showing up this week. New Echo (Hell) Bike, some more 44lb KBs, and… wait for it…

You’ll see it when you see it. =))

I shot an 8 minute video about some stuff happening around The Standard. If you want to watch it, you can do so here:

Around The Standard Ep. 1 - 2/2020

Here are the workouts for the week! There are some really creative ideas in this week of training and I can’t wait to give them a try. We’ll see you this week!

The end is here... and near... Saturday awards ceremony!

I hope your super Sunday has been exactly that! It’s been a challenging two weeks with assessments, but I love how all of you are approaching it this time. There are so many of you that are less worried about proving advancement than about how to continue toward improvement. This is exactly what should be happening! We assess where we’re at, address it with a plan, then progress.

After a HUGE first week that covered 9 of the 15 categories, you exceeded the number of improvements in week two with just 6 categories! Holy crap!! I applaud you. 204 last week, 220 this week! And we’re not even done yet. I think we could realistically hit 500 by Saturday!

Speaking of Saturday, we’re going to have a little ceremony after the 10a class (starts at 11, to be clear) to celebrate wins and then Kayla will be giving us a de-brief about the 800g challenge! You should be there!

As I’m writing this, I’m eating my 600th gram for the day. It’s the last day and I’m happy to not have to weight my food, but the last 4 weeks have solidified my insistence upon veggies being absolutely vital to recovering and health. I hope those of you who participated had a great experience and learned something about yourself as well!

Some house-keeping items:

1) If you don’t mind changing your billing to direct from your bank account, it would help us save a significant amount of money each month. If you want to do that, see Ben!

2) Etiquette with equipment. Lately I’ve seen a handful of people unload one end of the bar and then just yank the other plates off the other side, causing a CLANG as the bar hits the ground. Shocking, I know… but they’re not designed to do that. And bars do, over time, break, so let’s not do that. Same with plates. Plates are not meant to be thrown and land on their sides. The metal rings inside have gotten knocked loose, plus, it’s obnoxiously loud. Let’s just carry our plates where they need to be. Just to cover all bases, kettlebells should never be dropped, nor dumbbells. Thanks!

3) Wednesday at noon, we’ll be shooting some stuff for our commercial videos, so if you hate cameras, you’ve been warned. :) If you don’t mind being on camera, great! Just dress how you’d like to be captured forever and ever amen.

See you this week!!

Level Method Assessment week 2 - 800g challenge final days!

Hey everyone! As much as you may or may not enjoy the Level Method assessment season— it’s absolutely vital and inspiring at the same time. Heck, even the trainers are hitting PR’s and jumping levels!

Every 4 months we revisit our 15 different categories that make up a well-rounded athlete to make sure we're moving in the right direction This week we addressed just 9 of those categories and saw a WHOPPING 204 level-ups! In fact, some of those were multiple level improvements! Congratulations to each and every one of you! What a great, tangible proof of progress. All of those tough workouts, early mornings, late evenings, and time sacrificed is paying off!

If you’ve already identified a hole in your game, talk with a trainer about how to bridge that gap! We offer personal training and accessory programming for very nominal prices. (Example: If it cost you $75ish to get handstand pushups, would it be worth it?)

800g Challenge update! Kayla’s ladies have a victory well in-hand, but second place is still up for grabs!

Kayla - 1532

Sam - 1414

Christian - 1372

Ben - 1307

Finish strong! If you have any stories about how this challenge has impacted you, we’d love to hear them. You can email info@thestandardtoledo.com or text your coach or post on social media… whatever fits your fancy. :)